Also called: UAS Maintenance Technician
Fixes, upgrades, and maintains drones for businesses, police, and the military.
You diagnose a drone that drifts in flight, replace a motor and recalibrate its compass, and test-fly it in a netted cage.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 1 year after high school. Electronics or avionics certificate; military UAS maintenance is a great path.
Ways in: Certification, Military, Trade school, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Electronics Technology, Avionics (trade school).
Growing faster than average. BLS does not track drone pilots separately; demand is growing quickly.
Low risk for 10 years. More drones means more repairs; diagnostics help, but soldering and replacing parts stay hands-on.
Classes: Electronics CTE, Physics, Algebra, Computer science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 49-2091.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.